4K TV will be in half of U.S. homes by end of 2019

The consumer adoption rate of 4K television sets blew past last year’s expectations, climbing to 25% of U.S. households by January 2018, according to the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). My rough estimate that ultra-high definition 4K sets would be in 20% of U.S. homes by the end of 2017 was low. The adoption rate grew even faster, amidst falling prices, increased content availability and 4K’s status as the default standard for large screen TVs (50 inches and larger).

CTA isn’t releasing a household penetration projection for 2018, but its U.S. Consumer Technology Sales and Forecasts (January 2018) report predicts that 22 million 4K sets will be sold in the U.S. this year and 25 million in 2019 (versus 17 million in 2017). That would imply that the 4K adoption rate will continue to accelerate in 2018 and 2019.

There are 120 million homes with televisions in the U.S. A 25% adoption rate translates to 30 million with at least one 4K set. If all 22 million of projected unit sales ended up in homes without a 4K set, then the adoption rate would climb to 43% by the end of this year. But some of those sets will end up in homes that already have one – as replacements or second (third, fourth…) sets – and in commercial establishments.

Let’s do the same kind of back-of-the-envelope estimating as last year (which turned out to be conservative). Make a wild guess and say a fifth of sets sold will end up in existing 4K homes and another fifth will go to bars, offices and other businesses. That leaves three-fifths to add to the 4K universe, which would result in a 36% adoption rate at year end 2018, and 49% by the end of 2019.